Bahrain: Gulf State's best contest Four Nations tournament

The Bahrain Cricket Association organised the Four Nations Cricket Tournament recently in lieu of the local Eid and National Day holidays from Dec 16 till 23. The Four Nations Trophy was sponsored by Power Horse Energy Drink and the matches were played over the five day holiday period, lasting 40 overs per side. All matches were conducted at the Riffa Cricket grounds starting from 8.30 am in the morning.

The tournament comprised of the the select best league players representing India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Rest of the World. The latter consisted of local nationalised Bahraini players, Englishmen and Australian who combined for the Rest of the World team.

Since there is a dominance of Pakistani players, two teams, Green and White were formed for Pakistan. The strength of these teams was evident as both Pak-Green and Pak-White emerged with three victories each in the round robin format. However, the finals were delayed due to some umpiring controversies between the two teams.

In the end, Pak-Green consented to play a week later and amassed 304 for 5 off their 40 overs. This total was built around three fast paced fifties by Sajjad (57), all rounder Qamar Saqeed (53) and Mohamed Iqbal (51).

Shehzad Butt was the pick of the bowler for Pak-White with 3-63. In reply Pak-White could only muster 204-8 in 32 overs, still needing around 101 runs off eight overs before bad light intervened. In the end Pak White conceded the match to the former. For Pak White, opener Rizwhan Tahir played a lone hand in hitting 73 runs.

Earlier, India and Sri Lanka, both who had scored victories over the Rest of the World team, battled for third place honours. India, batting first, put up a fighting 259 for 9 wickets in 40 overs. The top scorers were Naveed Sheikh with 73 and Prashant Shettigar with 39. In response, Sri Lanka were never in the fight losing wickets at regular intervals with only number nine batsman Asanga Peiris scoring 44. The Lankans were all out for 196 in the 34th over, losing by 66 runs. Nitin Menon chipped in with 3-43 off 5 overs.

Th best batsman award went to Mohammed Yaqoob while the Best Bowler award went to Qamar Saeed, both of Pak-Green. The best fielder award was shared by Ashwini Sharma of India and Asanka Peiris of Sri Lanka.

Sixes tournament

Next month, February, sees a Sixes tournament being sponsored and supported the Rotary Club of Adliya for all the Senior League Divisions. These include the best teams from Hempels league, Island Cricket League and the BCA.

The tournament will be played on the lines of the Hong Kong sixes tournament organised by the Bahrain Cricket Association. The tournament will be played around February 24 during the Eid Al Adha holidays. However, there will be prilimnary round matches to select the best teams who will represent their individual leagues in the championship.

International cricket in the Gulf

The Gulf countries finally will see for the first time an International Test match being played in February when the Sharjah cricket stadium hosts the West Indies and Pakistan to a two test match series.

This is the third time two teams are playing a Test at a neutral venue. Sharjah has hosted around 181 One Day Internationals, a record but this is the first time they are hosting a Test match.

The First Test is due to start tentatively around 31 Jan till Feb 4 while the second Test will be played from Feb 7 to 11 followed by three One Day Matches between the two countries.

The above series is a big high for the Emirates Cricket Board.